XXX Corps Breakout Battlefield Tour

Tanks cross a Bailey bridge across the Maas-Schelde Canal next to Joes Bridge.

In this tour, we are going to focus on the exploits of XXX Corps and their race to get to Arnhem in time. This tour will focus on the breakout of the Neerpelt bridgehead and end near Veghel at the Koevering battle area, where the Germans made the final cut of the Corridor.

The tour will begin in Leopoldsburg in Belgium where the briefing for the operation took place, then we will move to Joe’s Bridge where we will cover its capture and subsequent German counter-attacks and also its significance for the Allies.

Just a short distance from Joe’s bridge is the start line of Operation Market Garden and then we’ll move to the location where it all went wrong, the German Ambush site. We will pay our respects at the CWGC Cemetery where the casualties of the breakout are buried. Our next stop will be the center of Valkenswaard.

Following up the Corridor we will arrive at Aalst where the Germans were able to block the advance to Eindhoven for almost 12 hours before entering Eindhoven. At Eindhoven, the linkup with the 101st Airborne Division took place, we will briefly cover their attack and capture of this city.

At Son, a bridge needed to be built because the Germans were able to destroy it just before the capture by the paratroopers. Son was also the location of the first German counter-attacks from the east and at nearby Nederwetten the XXX Corps tanks had to slug it out with German Panthers.

Our last stop of the day will cover the battles at Koevering where the Germans managed to block the road for over 40 hours, which lead to the evacuation of the 1st Airborne Division across the Rhine river.

XXX Corps breakout tour itinerary

Leopoldsburg

Joes Bridge

Bridgehead Breakout

Valkenswaard CWGC Cemetery

Valkenswaard town center

German blockade at Aalst,

Linkup at Eindhoven

Son bridge

Nederwetten tank battle

Koevering German blockade

This tour will take around 8 hours, on request we can add a visit to the German cemetery in Lommel.